82 FR 8191 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Public Comment Request; Revised Annual and Final Reports for Performance Reporting Data From NIDILRR Grantees

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Community Living

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 14 (January 24, 2017)

The Administration for Community Living (ACL/NIDILRR) is announcing an opportunity for the public to comment on ACL's intention to obtain annual and final performance data from NIDILRR grantees. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA), federal agencies are required to publish a notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information (including each proposed extension or reinstatement of an existing collection of information) and to allow 60 days for public comment on the proposed action. This notice collects comments on the information collection requirements relating to the reinstatement with change of a previously approved data collection covering ten NIDILRR programs.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8191-8192]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01537]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Public Comment Request; Revised Annual and Final Reports for 
Performance Reporting Data From NIDILRR Grantees

AGENCY: National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and 
Rehabilitation Research NIDILRR, Administration for Community Living, 
HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living (ACL/NIDILRR) is 
announcing an opportunity for the public to comment on ACL's intention 
to obtain annual and final performance data from NIDILRR grantees. 
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA), federal agencies 
are required to publish a notice in the Federal Register concerning 
each proposed collection of information (including each proposed 
extension or reinstatement of an existing collection of information) 
and to allow 60 days for public comment on the proposed action. This 
notice collects comments on the information collection requirements 
relating to the reinstatement with change of a previously approved data 
collection covering ten NIDILRR programs.

DATES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by 
March 27, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit electronic comments on the collection of information 
to: [email protected]. Submit written comments on the collection 
of information to Mary Darnell, U.S. Administration for Community 
Living, 330 C Street SW., Room 2510-D Washington, DC 20416.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Darnell, 202-795-7337.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal 
agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 
1320.3(c) and includes agency requests or requirements that members of 
the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a 
third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) 
requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal 
Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including 
each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, 
before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with 
this requirement, ACL is publishing a notice of the proposed collection 
of information set forth in this document.
    Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding our 
burden estimates or any other aspect of this collection of information, 
including any of the following subjects: (1) The necessity and utility 
of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of 
the agency's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) 
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and (4) the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology to minimize the information 
collection burden.
    Proposed Collection: Annual and Final Performance Reporting (APR) 
Forms for NIDILRR Grantees.
    The forms included in this package are revised versions of those 
used by grantees in the following 10 programs to submit their Annual 
and Final Performance Reports for Reporting Year 2016 under OMB 
collection number 1820-0675:

 Rehabilitation Research Training Centers (RRTCs)
 Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs)
 Field Initiated Research Projects (FIPs)
 Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Projects (ARRTs)
 Model Systems (including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain 
injury, and burn centers)
 Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRPs)
 Knowledge Translation (KT) Projects
 ADA National Network Centers (ADAs)
 Small Business Innovation Research Projects (SBIR) grantees 
(Phase 2 only)
 Research Fellowships Program (RFP)

    The APR includes common information and information specific to 
individual programs. The final report is a subset of items from the 
annual report and provides a summary of progress and outcomes for the 
full project period. OMB's approval of the forms used in Reporting Year 
2016 expired December 31, 2016.
    Need and Use of Information Collection: The National Institute on 
Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) 
Administration for Community Living (ACL) of the Department of Health 
and Human Services (HHS) requests clearance of revised Annual 
Performance Reporting (APR) and Final Report forms to be completed by 
all NIDILRR grantees. (Previously housed in the Department of Education 
and known as the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation 
Research [NIDRR], NIDILRR was renamed and relocated to HHS by the 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014.)
    Changes in the Reporting Forms: The Web-based system used for 
Reporting Year 2016 reporting incorporate a number of features to meet 
NIDILRR's information needs while minimizing burden. The reporting form 
and system currently in use were designed so that information provided 
by grantees each year is automatically carried forward to the next. 
Under this design, grantees need only review and, if necessary, edit 
their previous year's entries in order to complete subsequent annual 
reports. To further reduce burden, the proposed form is designed so 
that, instead of describing their accomplishments, grantees simply 
select their most important accomplishments from among the outputs they 
report. Data from grant applications, such as contact and budget

[[Page 8192]]

information, are preloaded for efficiency. To facilitate grantee and 
NIDILRR staff review of information submitted, the system includes 
system-generated tables that summarize information entered in specific 
sections. The Web-based system also carries forward information from 
one section of the form to the next; for example, information on 
outcome-oriented goals is carried forward for convenient linkage with 
projects/activities and publications. New mandates promoting public-
access to government-sponsored information and products have led to new 
requirements for NIDILRR's grantees. NIDILRR and the Administration for 
Community Living have recently published our public access plan to 
operationalize these requirements related to public access to 
publications that result from work we sponsor. Specifically the Type 1 
Outputs: Publications section has been modified to meet these 
requirements. NIDILRR took time to build these requirements into its 
annual performance report (APR) so that we can systematically monitor 
grantee compliance with the public access plan. The current reporting 
section will remain for all grants funded prior to 10/1/16 and continue 
to be used until such grants have ended. Grants funded after this date 
will see the section meeting the new reporting requirements. Minor 
changes to the currently approved reporting form were necessary to 
reflect NIDILRR's new name and its move from ED to HHS. These include:
     Replacing references to ED's statutory requirements, 
forms, systems, and CFDA numbers with appropriate HHS references.
     Changes necessary to accommodate the assignment of new HHS 
grant numbers (in a different format) to existing and new grants. The 
addition of one response option in the Indirect Costs section of the 
reporting form.
    Changes in the Burden Statement, reflecting the agency's move from 
ED to HHS, have been previously approved by OMB.
    Other changes include:
    Changes were made in the instructions for grantees' reporting on 
technology transfer plans (RERC grantees only).
    Insertion of one item about the stages of research in the Research 
Projects section and one item about the stages of development in the 
Development Projects section.
    Regulatory changes required minor changes to the response section 
for development projects and the addition of a question regarding 
commercialization.
    Reporting forms for all 10 programs are Web-based; that is, all 
grantees will complete their annual reports via the Internet. Data 
collected through these forms will be used to:
    (a) Facilitate program planning and management;
    (b) respond to Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) 
Grants Policy Administration Manual (GPAM) requirements; and
    (c) respond to the reporting requirements of the Government 
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62).\1\
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    \1\ The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 and the 
Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 are 
available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/mgmt-gpra/index-gpra.
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    OMB approval is requested for 3 years. There are no costs to 
respondents other than their time. The average annual burden associated 
with these activities over a three-year period is summarized below.
    NIDILRR and HHS will use the information gathered annually from 
these data collection efforts to provide Congress with the information 
mandated in GPRA, provide OMB information required for assessment of 
performance on GPRA indicators, and support its evaluation activities. 
Data collected from the 10 grant programs will provide a national 
description of the research activities of approximately 275 NIDILRR 
grantees per year in fiscal years 2017-2019.
    While the number of grantees will vary from year to year, all 
grantees will be required to submit an annual performance report and a 
final report at the completion of the project. Based on our experience 
with reporting burden, we estimate that it will take an average of 52 
hours to complete the reporting form in a grantee's first year of 
award. In subsequent years, the estimated response burden is 
approximately 22 hours. The estimated response burden includes time to 
review the instructions, gather existing data, and complete and review 
the form. The number of respondents is based on the average number of 
grants administered by NIDILRR over time. The proposed NIDILRR Annual 
Performance Report (APR) and final report forms can be found on the ACL 
Web site at:

https://acl.gov/Programs/NIDILRR/docs/NIDILRR-AnnualPerfReport-2016.pdf.
https://acl.gov/Programs/NIDILRR/docs/NIDILRR-APR-FinalForm-2016.pdf.

    ACL estimates the burden hours for this collection of information 
as follows:

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                                                                     Number of        Average
                                                     Number of     responses per   burden hours    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent     per response        hours
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New Grantees....................................              75               1              52           3,900
Continuations and Final Reports.................             200               1              22           4.400
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    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           8,300
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    Date: January 17, 2017.
Edwin Walker,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2017-01537 Filed 1-23-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4154-01-P